Criteria
Comments
Rating
- Reception and call quality Really good call quality and reception (on Verizon) seems quite good. Speakerphone mode is somewhat weak with poor noise cancellation.
- Display Small, though crisp. Resolution is decent for its size, but its size is a killer.
- Battery life Quite decent battery life and recharges rapidly.
- Camera For its price and age, the camera was tolerably sensitive and pics okay. Weak in lower light and flash a bit iffy.
- Ease of use The whole OS seems awkward at this point. RIM tried a hybrid approach to the screen with it being 'partial touch', but in general use, I found it inconsistent.
- Design and form factor The too-small screen simply cannot be overcome. Physical keyboard is fine, but overall this is a dated style that simply doesn't work well.
- Portability (size / weight) Quite small compared to recent behemoths. Lightweight and easy to hold.
- Media support Sound quality good, videos a bit laggy.
- Durability Seems rugged, but having keyboard glitches after 5 months.
- Ecosystem (apps, accessories, etc.) Developers dropping support for this model.
Detailed review
I have this as a company-provided phone. The company specified Blackberry. This was the best available. I appreciate the difficulty the designers faced, but really dislike the experience of using this phone. Most of this is due to the weak, outdated OS and the rapidly failing development community. Some is due to working through the corporate proxy. Quite a bit is due to the phone itself and its oh-so-outdated tiny screen.
If you have to have a Blackberry smartphone, you could do worse. Fairly decent battery life, seems pretty rugged physically. Call quality (on Verizon network) is solid. Network switching, roaming and 3G support nicely transparent. Physical keyboard seemed great, but now I'm getting quite a few random 'shifts' -- not sure whether this is due to sticking keys or OS glitches, but it cause major problems when entering passwords.
If you have to have a Blackberry smartphone, you could do worse. Fairly decent battery life, seems pretty rugged physically. Call quality (on Verizon network) is solid. Network switching, roaming and 3G support nicely transparent. Physical keyboard seemed great, but now I'm getting quite a few random 'shifts' -- not sure whether this is due to sticking keys or OS glitches, but it cause major problems when entering passwords.
good review!
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